The short documentary film, The Music Man of Manzanar, which is a California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP) grant project, can now qualify for an Academy Award nomination. The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts, and Sciences requires nominated films be formatted for the “big screen” and shown in a theater. The Music Man of Manzanar, remastered from its original DVD format, and showing in Pasadena this weekend, now meets the Academy’s requirements.
Brian Maeda produced the documentary that tells the story of a man who inspired young people at Manzanar, the internment camp where civilians and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry were confined during World War II.
Maeda says, “The Music Man of Manzanar is about one man who made a difference to high school kids imprisoned behind barbed wire fences. It is about Lou Frizzell, and my older brother Arnold Maeda, who was the president of the graduating class of 1944. Lou brought hope and inspiration to these students in drama and music classes in Manzanar."
The Music Man of Manzanar opens August 15 and runs through August 21 at the Laemmle Pasadena Theatre in Old Pasadena, California.
For more information about CCLPEP, please visit http://www.library.ca.gov/grants/cclpep/index.html on the California State Library website, or email CCLPEP at cclpep@library.ca.gov.
Congratulations to Brian Maeda!